Public Citizen Co-Presidents Request to Join DOGE

Today, Public Citizen co-presidents Robert Weissman and Lisa Gilbert sent a letter to Trump transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon requesting to be appointed as members of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).

If appointed, Weissman and Gilbert would bring to the table years of experience advocating for the interests of consumers and the public.

“Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy both hold financial interests that will be directly affected by federal budgetary policies — presenting substantial conflict of interest concerns,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. “Unlike Musk, neither Rob nor I, nor Public Citizen, has a financial interest in federal government contracts and spending. In bringing the consumer and public perspective to DOGE, we can offer views that are untainted by the appearance of corruption or self-dealing.”

“All signs suggest the non-representative DOGE co-chairs aim to use ‘efficiency’ as a cover to drive a pro-corporate, anti-regulatory agenda and an ideologically driven social service cuts program. This would constitute an anti-efficiency agenda,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen. “On the other hand, Lisa and I are prepared to offer a range of evidence-based efficiency proposals – to slash drug prices, end privatized Medicare, reduce the wasteful Pentagon budget – that would save American taxpayers and consumers hundreds of billions of dollars every year. We also have recommendations for smart, efficient public investments – in human development and to address climate change – that will have a positive monetary return for the government and society.”

The letter also notes that appointing Weissman and Gilbert to DOGE would be an important step towards compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires “the membership of the advisory committee to be fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed by the advisory committee.” As things stand, DOGE’s membership falls far short of satisfying that requirement.